German Court: Motorola Violated Apple's "Rubber Band" Patent

By Jeff Gamet

Sep 13th, 2012 9:48 AM EDT

The Munich I Regional Court in German handed down its verdict on Thursday in Apple's lawsuit alleging Motorola Mobility violated its Over Scroll Bounce, or rubber band effect, patent. The court ruled that Motorola Mobility's Android-based smartphones and tablets do infringe on the patent, opening the door for a potential injunction blocking sales of the devices in Germany.

German Court rules Motorola infringed on Apple "rubber band" patent

The rubber band patent protects Apple's control over the effect where a page bounces back a little bit when users can't scroll. Google already has a different effect in its stock Android OS, although it isn't as elegant or responsive as Apple's page bounce.

Apple can impose a preliminary injunction by posting a €25 million bond, which would block sales of Motorola's infringing devices in Germany.

"If Apple posts another €10 million, it can also obligate Motorola to destroy any infringing material, and for yet another €10 million it can get a recall," Florian Mueller of Foss Patentssaid. "Furthermore, Motorola was held to owe Apple damages for past infringement."

Apple won a patent infringement case against Motorola earlier this year over photo app navigation features, too. In that case, the German court said the page turning feature Motorola used in its smartphone photo gallery app infringed on an Apple patent. The company removed the feature through a software update to avoid a potential injunction.

Motorola Mobility is expected to appeal the Munich I Regional Court's ruling.